For ethics committees and folks that care about collusion, the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., just a stone’s throw from the White House, has always been a source of contention.
Many have wondered how a hotel bearing the name of the president wouldn’t be an obvious ethics violation considering that THE HOTEL IS OWNED BY THE PRESIDENT.
Well, it looks like those concerns may come crashing to a halt as the Trump International Hotel may be losing its liquor license, which means that no respectable Russian operative looking to trade dirt on Joe Biden with Trump Jr. is staying there.
That’s because the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration (ABRA) of Washington, D.C., “which issues and regulates liquor licenses for private businesses operating in the District of Columbia, denied a motion by the Trump International Hotel to dismiss a complaint against its own license renewal— which means the president’s gaudy hotel situated along Pennsylvania Avenue might soon lose the ability to sell alcohol on the premises,” Think Progress reports.
According to TP, the ABRA didn’t dismiss residents and property owners complaint, which argued that the president of the United States and the holder of the nuclear codes isn’t fit to own a property that sells a controlled substance.
From TP:
According to ABRA’s own guidelines, in order for a private entity to obtain or renew its liquor license, “the Applicant is obligated to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Board that the ownership ‘is of good character and generally fit for the responsibilities of licensure’.” The group that is contesting the hotel’s renewal argues that Trump does not meet those standards.
Rather than take up the Sisyphean task of defending Trump’s good character, the applicants for the license argued that the president’s inability to comport with the “good character” guidelines should have no bearing on the hotel that bears his name because the property is technically controlled and managed by a private limited liability corporation set up to handle legal matters pertaining to the hotel. ABRA did not buy this argument, writing in its decision that “the Board has consistently held that ‘the mere creation of a corporate entity does not shield the individuals holding an interest in a corporation or limited liability company from having their records as owners scrutinized by the Board.’”
The decision doesn’t mean that the hotel will lose its liquor license but it does set up a rather funny scenario between “the most heavily Democratic city in the country and Donald Trump, the least popular president in modern history,” TP notes.
Trump initially promised to cut ties with all his business dealings but as with most things Trump, that turned out to be a lie. TP notes that from the time Trump took office, he’s been in “violation of the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, which strictly prohibits the president from profiting off of the office.”
Not only has Trump not divested his interests, but it’s also pretty clear that if you want to make nice with the president, you stay at his shitty hotel.
“This is not the first time the complainants have contested Trump International’s liquor license,” TP reports. “They brought a similar complaint last year, but ABRA dismissed that petition because the license was not up for renewal at the time. The complaint was refiled earlier this spring when the hotel was forced to reapply for its license.”
Here is to hoping that the place loses its liquor license and then has to close because who wants to stay in a hotel that doesn’t have liquor? I mean how else are the Russian prostitutes supposed to pee?